Chiyangwa warned against undermining and “destabilising CAF”

Football governing body for African, Confederation of African Football have written a letter to ZIFA and COSAFA President Phillip Chiyangwa warning him against destabilizing the organisation. Chiyangwa was elected Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) president in December last year. The CAF warning to Chiyangwa may have been triggered by a planned meeting for Cosafa presidents and others which is being planned for the 24th of February in Harare. The meeting is being organised by Chiyangwa.

According to CAF, Chiyangwa had no authority to convene a meeting with Football Association presidents from countries which are not part of Cosafa.

This may be due to the fact that Southern African nations, which fall under Cosafa, want incumbent CAF President Issa Hayatou gone. Cosafa has endorsed Ahmad Ahmad as a presidential candidate in the upcoming Confederation of African Football (Caf) elections. Cosafa made their announcement after a meeting in Johannesburg on Saturday. This may not have gone down too well with CAF president Issa Hayatou who has been in power since 1988, and is running for another term in March’s Presidential elections. Hence the warning to Chiyangwa.

Chiyangwa’s actions may be viewed as an attempt to canvass votes for Ahmad. Here is an excerpt of the letter from CAF:

advertisement

The CAF leadership has been informed that a meeting is convened by yourself in your capacity as COSAFA chairman, in Harare Zimbabwe on February 24th 2017, right after the FIFA executive Summit planned in Johannesburg on February 21st to 23rd 2017.

Such a meeting would not include only presidents of member associations of COSAFA but also presidents of many member associations outside the zonal union of COSAFA. The CAF leadership would like to remind you that you do not have the authority to convene such a meeting without CAF knowledge nor without its required approval